The Inescapable Reason Why the Financial System Will FailCentral banks are now trapped. If they raise rates to provide low-risk, high-yield returns to institutional owners, they will stifle the "recovery" and the asset bubbles that are dependent on unlimited liquidity and super-low interest rates. But if they keep yields low, the only way institutional investors can earn the gains they need to survive is to pile into risk assets and hope the current bubbles will loft higher.

In a recent study, we found that use of this engineered sugarcane could yield more than 2,500 liters of bio-jet fuel per acre of land. In simple terms, this means that a Boeing 747 could fly for 10 hours on bio-jet fuel produced on just 54 acres of land.

Fifty-four acres of land just to fly a 747 for 10 hours! That may sound good to some people, but the land could be put to much better use, for example as desperately needed habitat for the wildlife species being exterminated to make room for more humans. -- RF

In the end, society needs energy to function and the idea that we can do more with less with the help of better technologies seems to be just an illusion. If we reduce energy consumption, we'll most likely enter a phase of economic decline.

For a sustainable future we need (1) a much smaller human population, (2) much lower energy consumption, and (3) abandonment of the dangerous and futile infinite-growth ideology. -- RF

The emergence of this confidential document (found on Anthony Weiner's laptop and sent while his wife, Huma Abedin, was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff), is disturbing - as it potentially implicates the Obama administration in a conspiracy to silence Julian Assange while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State...

The predictable results of those meetings are now clear and well-documented. Ever since, Facebook has been on a censorship rampage against Palestinian activists who protest the decadeslong, illegal Israeli occupation, all directed and determined by Israeli officials.

The most significant feature of these breakthroughs is that, unlike the basic scientific discoveries of yore, they are achieved thanks to colossal energy expenditures. Total the costs of raising, educating, and training the researchers and scientists (these costs alone are very high in modern societies), as well as the cost of the equipment and facilities, and it adds up to a staggering burden on society, regardless of what the benefits may be. For example, the Large Hadron Collider is the largest machine ever built, and one of the most expensive. Meanwhile, our energy situation is deteriorating rapidly, as the remaining stock of profitable fossil fuels must subsidize junk energy (such as shale oil) and also build and maintain the infrastructure for renewables. -- RF

Reverberations from Trump's Jerusalem MoveOne ironic benefit from Donald Trump's presidency is that the world is showing more independence against U.S. edicts, such as the recent rebuff of Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

'Elite Warriors': A refreshingly Eastern perspective on special forcesA new book authored by experts from the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, or CAST, titled "Elite Warriors: Special Operations Forces From Around the World," explores one of these key changing aspects of modern war: the proliferation of special operations forces by major and minor powers across the globe.

It's an obvious truth to those who, like the writer, understand that money is just tokenized energy. And further, this illustrates what I've been saying all along: The shale-drilling industry isn't a matter of "new technology unlocking new energy sources" (for the record, hydrofracturing isn't a new technology, and shale resources aren't newly discovered). Drillers are going after this now because the situation is desperate. Recall that conventional oil discoveries are the lowest in 70 years. -- RF

Brutal US cold snap highlights higher energy costsPlunging temperatures across half the country on Thursday underscored a stark reality for low-income Americans who rely on heating aid: Their dollars aren't going to go as far this winter because of rising energy costs.

Crumbling infrastructure:30% of inspected sewers found to be damagedThe ministry says Japan's sewage systems have about 470,000 kilometers of pipes. It says 3,300 cave-ins due to such aging infrastructure were reported in fiscal 2015.

Japan's challenge how to cut huge debtsWith Japan's debt to exceed 1,100 trillion yen, or about 9.7 trillion dollars by the end of fiscal 2018, finance officials are finding it difficult to curb spending. More than one-third of the country's budget relies on debt.

Of particular note here is the non-partisan nature of growing wealth disparity. It's just more evidence that the two arms of the War Party are in accord on the most significant features of the economy, society, and politics. Do you still doubt that the US has a China-style one-party system? -- RF

When the US entered the nuclear age, it did so recklessly. New research suggests that the hidden cost of developing nuclear weapons were far larger than previous estimates, with radioactive fallout responsible for 340,000 to 690,000 American deaths from 1951 to 1973.

Intel Vets Tell Trump Iran Is Not Top Terror SponsorA group of U.S. intelligence veterans urges President Trump to stop his administration's false claims about Iran being the leading state sponsor of terrorism when U.S. allies, such as Saudi Arabia. are clearly much guiltier.

Apparently the US ambassador to the UN believes in the existence of a mythical country called "Binomo," or was flummoxed and was just BS-ing her way through the conversation. You can't make this stuff up. Well, maybe you can... -- RF

The Strangelovian Russia-gate MythThe Strangelovian palaver of Russia-gate is embraced by many liberals as some totem to ward off the vile Donald Trump, but this dishonest process only furthers the cause of American Empire and risks global destruction.

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##Online, but can't ditch paper? You may be future-proofing yourselfYou're on the web, you're in the cloud. But don't neglect good old-fashioned paper. That's the advice from internet pioneer Vint Cerf, who is afraid that all our digital memories could be lost as technology moves on.

Or when technology disappears. Keep in mind that "progress" isn't linear and irreversible. -- RF

Puerto Rican Island 'Still In Crisis Mode' 3 Months After MariaOn an island eight miles off Puerto Rico's coast, homes sit destroyed on hillsides and many of its nearly 9,000 residents still wait for federal aid. Vieques' hospital is operating out of tents in a parking lot. And the island is facing the prospect of six more months without electricity from Puerto Rico's main grid.